


Overtime

by dakgalbis



Series: Warm Blood [4]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Alternate Universe - Office, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27061513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dakgalbis/pseuds/dakgalbis
Summary: Seungmin, the new guy, takes Changbin up on his offer to help with a report due the next day.
Relationships: Kim Seungmin/Seo Changbin
Series: Warm Blood [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972180
Comments: 1
Kudos: 42





	Overtime

**Author's Note:**

> Unlike the other works in [Warm Blood](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972180), so far, this is actually set during Seungmin's first month on the job. It's about the first time they actually talk.
> 
> \- here is a [spreadsheet](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LkSrnnsJn1FQpskWbbxBetYyq14MN_ppTQJCXa8eEeE/edit?usp=sharing) with the works in this series listed in chronological order.

"Yah, Kim, just because you're the youngest here, doesn't mean you should stay the latest." 

Seungmin almost jumped in surprise in his seat. The office had been quiet for a while now, and most of the lights had been switched off. It was already 11 PM, after all; it had been a couple of hours since building security went through the floor to switch off most of the lights. He had pretty much assumed he was the only one left since then, so when Seo Changbin, one of his teammates at his new job, spoke to him standing over his cubicle, he almost scampered away. 

"Uh..." Seungmin tried his best to maintain his composure. Truthfully, Seungmin knew him the least out of all his teammates. Although Seungmin had met Seo Changbin before on his first day with the team, the latter was shipped the day right after off to the company’s Daegu branch for a particular project. Tonight was Seungmin’s first time seeing him since then. All he could thus tell about Changbin was that he had a piercing gaze, one that told Seungmin he was best not to be messed with despite his small stature. Being alone with him that night made Seungmin nervous, but he didn't want to show any of that. 

Seo Changbin craned his neck from over Seungmin's cubicle in an attempt to peek at his monitor. "What's that you're working on anyway?" Seungmin noticed that Changbin had his bag slung across his shoulders already; he was probably on his way home already. 

"Ah, it's not that," Seungmin spoke in a quiet, polite tone. Being the newest member of the team, that was just how he addressed everyone. "Manager Park wants a report by tomorrow morning on the data from the sales department for the past six months. The data arrived only this evening, so..." 

"Six months?!" Seo Changbin's eyes widened in surprise, then his features relaxed. "Right, the guy you replaced left six months ago and no one had been doing these reports since then." He then let out an exasperated sigh. "Let me guess, you informed them you needed the data first thing _yesterday_ morning." 

Seungmin gave a slow nod. He was trying to hide his frustration about the delay. He was new, after all, and he didn't know how his teammates would take to anything remotely like complaining. It seemed, though, that Changbin knew what he was going through and that he knew how infuriating it was. 

"The guys at sales think they're the shit, they think they're the hand that feeds this company so they act however they want." Changbin started to walk, which Seungmin found to be odd. It turned out, though, that he was making his way to the empty seat beside Seungmin. He sat down, fished his laptop out of his bag and laid it on the neighboring desk. "Come on, e-mail me the data. Let's split the work." 

Seungmin blinked rapidly in surprise. He found the offer touching, but he thought he couldn't just accept it. It was his task, after all, and he wanted to show every teammate that he could do his job. "But you're on your way home already, aren't you?" 

"Yeah, but it's not like I have anything better to do at home anyway," Changbin answered, shrugging, before suddenly turning serious. "Have you sent the data to me yet?" 

Seungmin turned back to his monitor to e-mail the data to Changbin, with Changbin's tone having given him no other choice. 

"Ah, there it is!" Changbin exclaimed cheerily after a couple of seconds. "Which months have you finished already?" 

"January to February," Seungmin answered, wondering if Changbin would find him slow or not. 

"Not bad," Changbin gave him a small grin. "Damn, if you'd do all the six months, though, you'd be here until the morning. I wouldn't want that. For you." 

Seungmin found himself knitting his eyebrows at Changbin's last statement, unsure of how to feel about that. He then told himself to not think about it and focus on the task at hand. "I figured I'd get the hang of it and I wouldn't take as long with the remaining months." 

"You're probably right, but it'll still probably be faster with the two of us." Changbin held up a thumbs up sign at Seungmin. "How about you continue with March and April, I'll take May and June?" 

That seemed fair enough to Seungmin, at least it would mean he still did a bigger fraction of the work. "Okay, that would be great. Thanks." 

"No problem," Changbin replied swiftly, then turned his gaze to the monitor. 

Complete silence followed after that, with the both of them focused on finishing the report after they had divided up the data. Seungmin tried not to be distracted by how glad he was that someone was helping, as he realized while poring over the rest of work that he needed to do that he indeed was not going to finish it by morning if Changbin didn't step in. Changbin was probably already just as tired as he was before offering help, but he offered help anyway. Seungmin made a mental note to offer to buy him coffee as soon as they're done. 

Just as Seungmin was getting started on the data for April, a couple of hours after he and Changbin split the work, the latter started to talk. 

"Is this your first job, Kim?" he asked, with his gaze still on the screen. 

"Yes," Seungmin answered without much thought. His focus was still on the report. 

"Oh." Changbin seemed amused. "Where did you study, if you don't mind me asking?" 

Seungmin replied with the name of the university he graduated from. 

"Wow, wait, what?!" Seungmin heard the wheels of Changbin's chair turn. "You were from _that_ university?" 

Seungmin couldn't help but smile; he was proud of his degree and where he got it from. "Well, I don't exactly tell everyone." 

"Damn, a degree from there and you're stuck with writing shitty reports like this." Changbin clicked his tongue. "Manager Park doesn't know what he's doing." 

Seungmin shook his head and chuckled. "If this is what the token new guy does here, then I'll do it. Doesn't matter where my degree came from." 

"Still, though," Changbin laughed. "I-- Let's talk more after we get this shit done." 

"Ha, okay." 

\--- 

It was around 3 AM when they finished. Changbin let out a loud yawn and stretched in the seat after shutting his laptop lid closed. Seungmin couldn't help but notice how much smaller he even looked in the seat, then blinked in surprise that he noticed that. He chalked it up to exhaustion, and let out a sigh as he closed his own laptop lid. 

"Thanks for the help," Seungmin turned to Changbin and gave him a huge grin. 

"No problem, Kim. Manager Park can be unreasonable someti-- most of the time," he answered scoffing as he finished his sentence. "Don't hesitate to ping me for any help. I'd been the token new guy before, after all. I have an idea what it's like." 

Seungmin chuckled softly. "Ah, thanks. I'll do just that." As he stuffed his laptop into his bag, he decided to go ahead with the invite for coffee. "I really appreciate the help tonight. Can I, uh, maybe buy you coffee for the help?" 

Changbin's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Wow, a junior buying a senior coffee?" 

Seungmin pressed his lips into a thin line. He used to do that when he got help from seniors in university. He had no idea that would be unusual in an office setting. "Is... that a bad thing?" 

"No, no!" Changbin laughed and shook his head, which brought Seungmin relief. "I was just surprised. But not tonight, no?" 

"Oh no, it's way too late," Seungmin answered. "Any morning this week, I guess?" 

Changbin looked up the ceiling in thought, then grinned at Seungmin. "Yeah, this Thursday morning?" 

"Sure thing." Seungmin couldn’t stop himself from grinning. It was nice to learn that Seo Changbin was a lot nicer than his intimidating appearance, and that there was someone as kind as he was on the team. Seungmin looked forward to being able to work with him more in the future, and to know him better as well. 

\--- 

"Wow, Kim, I know you're always early but today you're _early,_ " an older teammate remarked in surprise as he walked by Seungmin on his way to his seat. Seungmin understood the reaction. It was only a few minutes before 7:30 AM, still half an hour before work was officially to start. He'd usually arrive just on time, but he made an effort to come earlier today. It was Thursday, and he was supposed to get coffee with Seo Changbin. He felt like it would be embarrassing if he would arrive later than Changbin so he made sure that wouldn't happen. 

"Ah, yeah... just felt like it," he answered, unsure on whether he should share the real reason why. 

"I heard Manager Park liked the report you did the other day, by the way," the teammate complimented him as he laid his laptop on the table. "Good job." 

"Ah, Seo-sunbaenim helped me," Seungmin answered, smiling. 

"Ah, did he? Well, I guess one of us had to," the teammate laughed. "It's kind of our fault. We ignored those reports when the guy who used to do them left." 

Seungmin let out a nervous chuckle. "Well, you're all already quite busy with your own tasks, so--" 

"Unfortunately, yes," the teammate answered. "How about I buy you coffee as a token of apology? Have you had one this morning yet?" 

"Ah, well..." Seungmin quickly came up with an excuse to refuse. "I was planning to have one a little later." 

The older teammate shrugged. "Well, I want to go for mine now, so maybe next time, then. Just remember I owe you one," he said, chuckling. 

"Thank you, sir," Seungmin gave a bow as the older teammate walked past him on his way out. As soon as he left, Seungmin checked his phone. There was still twenty minutes before 8 AM. He sighed and hit the refresh button on his e-mail client on his laptop, figuring he can get started on some work while waiting. It was going to be difficult for him to work without coffee, but he guessed he could manage. 

One by one, his teammates came in, with Seungmin greeting each one with a polite bow. Before he knew it, the office had gone from dead quiet to largely abuzz with work chatter about reports to be submitted and meetings to be held. Despite the noise, though, Seungmin couldn't help but yawn. The absence of caffeine in his bloodstream was becoming more difficult to ignore. He checked the time on the corner of his screen. 

It was 10:03 AM. 

Seungmin blinked in confusion. The latest an employee was allowed to come in was 10:00 AM and Changbin seemed to be nowhere in sight. He craned his neck to check the cubicle right across his. It was still empty. 

He then checked his phone. Although he and Changbin didn't exchange numbers, the company required them to install a communicator app through which Changbin could message him if he was going to be late or not. Or if he was coming to work that day at all. There were no new messages, though. 

"I MADE IT." A loud voice suddenly came from the doorway. Seungmin turned to look at who it was. It was Changbin, with one hand holding on to the door frame, panting heavily. His hair was a mess, and his face shone with sweat. No one else in the team seemed to pay attention, though. 

"No, you did not. It's 10:03 AM," Manager Park said crossly from the end of the room. 

"What?!" Changbin blinked and then checked his watch. "Manager Park, my watch says it's exactly 10:00 AM! How could I have known?" 

"Seo Changbin, what do I do with you?" Manager Park groaned and rolled his eyes. 

A teammate seated near Manager Park spoke up. "If you just wake up earlier, your watch being delayed by three minutes wouldn't matter." 

Seungmin wanted to laugh, if only he didn't also feel annoyed that Changbin seemed to have completely forgotten about their agreement. If he remembered, perhaps he could have informed Seungmin that he was going to be late. After all, it wasn't like Seungmin was _dying_ to have coffee with Changbin, but had Changbin told him, he would have gotten coffee for himself earlier already. Or even worse, he could have taken up his teammate on the offer for free coffee. He pressed his lips into a thin line, trying to contain his annoyance. He couldn't do much, being the youngest in the team. 

Changbin only rolled his eyes and stalked off to his cubicle. Seungmin found it ridiculous that he acted like that despite being late. If only he wasn't in the position to do so, he'd scold Changbin himself. He let out a sigh as quietly as he could and turned back to his monitor. He decided he should just go back to work, finish what he was doing, and get coffee by himself. Changbin had probably forgotten all about the offer already anyway. 

"Hey, Kim, sorry, I didn’t forget about our coffee thing. Just, uh, things… made me late..." Changbin greeted Seungmin sheepishly as he took his laptop out of his bag to lay it on his desk. 

_Things don’t make you late. You’re just late,_ Seungmin wanted to answer, but he bit down on his lower lip instead. "Ah, no worries..." 

"Damn watch-- Anyway, we can still go, right?" Changbin was grinning from ear to ear, seemingly very eager to have coffee with Seungmin. Seungmin felt something tingle at the bottom of his stomach when he saw that, but then he came to think that Changbin wouldn’t be late if he really was as eager as he looked, and his annoyance at that thought was quick to wash that tingling feeling away. 

"Uh--" 

"Seo Changbin, no coffee break for you! You just got here!" Manager Park called out from the end of the table. "Get your late ass on that report you owe me first." 

"But--" 

"Seo Changbin!" 

Changbin groaned out loud and sat down, seemingly resigned to what Manager Park wanted of him. He then craned his neck and peered over the divider between his cubicle and Seungmin's. "Hey, sorry, let's just go get coffee for lunch, then?" 

Seungmin didn't even need a second to think that over. 

"Actually, I'll get mine now,," Seungmin answered sharply, but with a small smile. He then picked his phone up from his desk and stood up to leave. “Enjoy your coffee later.” 

Changbin’s face fell. It took all of Seungmin to hold down a satisfied smile. "Hey, wait--" 

"You’re not going anywhere until you finish that report, Seo Changbin!” 

And with that, Seungmin headed towards the door without even thinking of looking back. 


End file.
